Sabatier Carbon Steel Knives

J

johno

Joined
Aug 12, 1999
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Anyone know anything about the several makers of Sabatier knives, especially the carbon steel models ? From what I can figure out the more well known maker is the one with the lion mark, and is the maker of the Au Carbone (?) carbon steel knives. They are forged, with full tangs and the bolster, and are easy to sharpen as the hardness is supposed to be in the low 50s. I've seen another similar design with an umbrella mark, and I picked up an unusual one with a four star and elephant mark. The four star/elephant is the mark for Thiers Issard, and the 4in paring knive that I have is a Nogent model from the town of the same name. It has a rattail tang, what they call a white brass ferrule that looks like aluminum, and it has an ebony handle. Based upon how it sharpened I'd guess the hardness was in the middle 50s to maybe a tad more, and it took a very nice edge. While the design makes for a lighter duty model than a full tang it is light, the steel is nice, and the ebony is elegant. I understand that it's an old design and one that has been largely replaced by the full tang designs.

Anyway, other observations appreciated.
 
Years ago when I was first married we had a set of Sabitier knives. A parer,a bread knife,small boning knife and a sheepsfoot blade utility. Over the years each blade snapped in half about an inch or so back from the tip even the bread knife(Go figure)The sheepsfoot I still have and is still performing fine in the kitchen. Needless to say I have been using Henckels as my primary kitchen knives now and have never had a problem. Still don't know why the others all snapped at different times except maybe the heat treating? With so many choices now I would not even consider Sabatier if shopping for new kitchen knives. Don't forget this was about 25 years ago so maybe they make a good knife now but I won't ever get another.
Bob
 
I've had an au carbon knife for years and it has worked well. There is something about the alloy or processing that takes a very aggressive edge. I would guess that it is around 55 RC. I really don't know who's who in the Sabatier world. I even found one marked Imperial at a thrift store. I think I have found stainless models with broken tips. I just regrind them and they work great. The tips are very thin. They work well, but you need to use them for their intended purpose. I've bent the au carbon tip, but not broken it.
 
Jeff
Regrinding a broken tip is fine as that can happen but I'm talking an inch or more from the tip so in the case of the small parer it was almost half the blade that snapped. That is not normal for a utility knife made for kitchen work.
Bob
 
We've been using a set of 4 star Henckels for close to 15 years now, they work fine, but I started looking at other knives after a $7 or so carbon steel 'Windmill' paring knife worked so much better at trimming fat from beef. It's a modest wooden handled, full tang knife made in Solingen by Herder. The thin carbon steel blade sharpens up like a razor and seems to hold the edge and work better than the thin Victorinox paring knives that we also use. Also, the only kitchen that I've had broken was a Henckels chef knife, one that a roommate broke in two while trying to pry/cut ice cream. He replaced it, was amazed at how much it cost, but also ended up buying a full set when he got married.

Sabatier is a name used by a number of makers, so do you know which company/mark made the ones that broke ? Also, was it stainless or carbon steel ?
 
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